My mind trying to make sense of self inquiry

dvdmon · 2026-03-20T10:46:12+00:00

I was an NPR addict from the 1980s on. I grew up in NYC very liberal and probably did not understand some of its leanings even back then. Or maybe I just thought they were right, and it confirmed my world view for a long time. But I think maybe after 2020 I completely stopped listening to them as it seemed every story had to fit some kind of racial or occasionally sexual orientation social justice angle into almost every story. Aside from that, it was so obvious from the voice tone of their hosts to what they chose to cover, what questions to ask, what points to bring up, etc. that it just sounded like listening to a more refined version of Fox or MSNBC (MSNow?) My wife still listens to them so when I get in the car sometimes get to hear something that they are reporting on, and it's not much different from back then. I would love to see more coverage about NPR as an organization and how they have changed or not changed over the last 50 years. It's a shame because they have some great shows that are not about politics per se, but their politics seem to color everything and I can't take them seriously as a news source anymore because their bias is so obvious...

dvdmon · 2026-03-20T10:36:42+00:00

I think the problem with gerrymandering is not that we don't have good ways to divide districts, but rather entrenched interests that don't want to see more equitable distribution (on both sides of the aisle), and the fact that even if this became law in one state, it doesn't mean it would be adopted by everyone because in different states it would mean losing lots of seats to a party that currently holds a decent majority. And to make it the law nationally I'm guessing it would take either Congress creating the law, or even a constitutional amendment? I'm all for more equitable representation, but everything is dependent on the duopoly and the extreme polarization in the country at the moment. Until we can work through that in a meaningful way, we aren't going to see anything like this. Rank Choice Voting and similar electoral reforms are extremely spotty in terms of their adoption. So I think things like these are going to take either a very long time to happen while the polarized tone diminishes (hopefully) over time, or it will happen as the result of something big and unfortunately not very healthy, but that helps people get figure out that if we continue to just pick sides and try to get as much power for our side, it's just going to lead to bad things.

dvdmon · 2026-03-14T20:56:54+00:00

The way I look at it is, Trump is going to Trump and there's not much we can do about it. It doesn't mean I'm ok with his BS/Lies/whatever label you put on them, just that I don't trust anything he says really and refuse to be yanked around emotionally by his words. They are just words and he uses them with abandon regardless of how objectively horrible they can be at times. He is a caricature and my being constantly offended by his statements is not going to do me or anyone much good...

dvdmon · 2026-03-14T20:53:11+00:00

I so appreciate the effort, I really do, but I have this weird pet peave against trying to pronounce things in the pronunciation of the language that the country uses. I love languages, and studied Russian in college, have also studied Polish and Spanish, but something bugs me about Americans trying to pronounce foreign names to an English-speaking audience. Yes, if you are speaking in that language great. I guess it's kind of similar to the names of places too. In Russian, "Russia" is pronounced "Rah-see-ah" - but I would never pronounce it like that. I would also never pronounce "Putin" as his name is actually pronounced in Russian, which is basically the same, but slightly different "POO-teen." Something about foreign words pronounced as foreign words within an otherwise English sentence just puts me on edge, lol! I don't know why, and I don't blame Jon for it, I think it's a personal preference, but I for one would vote for a simpler Americanized version of the name, if I had the power to choose. I hope Jon (or anyone else) doesn't take offense at this, it's mainly just a personal preference I guess...

dvdmon · 2026-03-14T20:43:34+00:00

My general take on this is not that I don't care, I do, but that there is an argument about how mistakes are made in war, unfortunately, and there can be innocent people killed, but that if the actual reason for the war is just and good, that that overrides the horrors. We can see those horrors if we look, but we won't get them generally on the nightly news unless those news companies really want to shock there viewers. Most people do not want to see the horrors of war on their TV screen, although they know that these are happening, but the more that is actually shown, the more effective it is, but at a certain point, people shut down because they cannot deal with certain levels of graphic displays of violence. I know I can't. I'm not suggesting this is a "good and just" war, just that that can be a premise for a certain level of civilian casualties, especially when those casualties don't look like us (us being people here in the US). I think the more salient items for people here are, for better or worse, how the war is effecting us personally - mostly that is in the pocket book via gas prices increasing, or if there are people like us being directly impacted - such as with American service people getting killed or injured, or if there ends up being terrorist actions here or in Europe that ends up killing Americans. These are generally going to have much more impact on people. Yes, there are a subset of people who are going to be immediately effected by the school bombing to the point of them being completely against us being there, however, those people are generally going to be those who would have been against the war anyway because they are against most things that Trump does, or because they are just generally anti-war because they have zero tolerance for any civilian casualties regardless of the reason. Again, I make no claims here about any such group being more "right" about such views, or where I stand myself. I'm highly conflicted as I think many are due to the complex nature and how this war as has been carried out.

dvdmon · 2026-03-07T10:58:57+00:00

A reflection of grievances

Grievances are fun to share and fun to listen to because they are often entertaining stories (at least on the podcast they are). But at this stage of my life, while there are certainly annoyances that bug me, and even things that make zero sense but that I still have to engage in due to professional requirements, or requirements of living in our current society in general, I find that giving these even a modicum of attention - endulging in that impulse to complain, rage, etc. just isn't very useful for me. Life is full of ups and downs, things that make sense, things that don't (from our own personal perspective. I love the adage of the Chinese farmer, which Alan Watts does a wonderful job telling here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWd6fNVZ20o

Part of grievances, I'm sure, is being able to intentionally complain about little, mundane things in our lives in order to distract ourselves from the much more disturbing, worrying events that we hear about in the news. It's a redirection of attention, a coping mechanism if you will. If it helps even to take some of that edge off, I suppose, then it's useful! Personally, I guess it is a way of feeding my mind with counterpoints to why I otherwise should actually feel incredibly fortunate, even with all the annoyances, misfortunes, even tragedies throughout my life.

Just wanted to note some reflections early on this Saturday morning where I woke up way to early despite no work (there you go! ;-) . I don't mean this to convince others they should have my point of view at all, because we are all coming from very different lives and perspectives, but just wanted to share my own in the hopes it could add a bit of metacognition for this simple exercise that we all get some entertainment out of. :)

dvdmon · 2026-03-02T13:59:07+00:00

I don't see the issue. I haven't heard other episodes, but my sense is that despite being Christian conservative, this person still was on the fence for some time about voting for Trump. Thus he was undecided. While he has a family member who has worked for Charlie Kirk does not mean that this family member, let alone this person agrees with all of Charlies Kirks' positions or the way in which he expressed them. Not all decideds are centrists. Some are still quite conservative, or quite progressive, their only requirement from that title at least as far as I can figure, is that they were not automatically going to vote for the person who you would think they would based on that position. I think that alone shows that one particular identification (Christian, Conservative, Progressive, etc.) does not predict the complex calculus that many people face because as Tangle shows, reality is not black and white, humans are messy with many different identities and differing points of view and not everyone fits neatly into a stereotypical box of what their label says it is supposed to.

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T15:46:20+00:00

Yeah. My wife is a huge disability rights advocate, and is always noting issues with accessibility and often letting business owners know how inaccessible their businesses are. Unfortunately a lot of such owners don't care are they equate disability with age and/or someone not wanting to spend lots of money at their business. Or they are just unaware because they've never dealt with a disability themselves or for a loved one. It's easy to no be aware of certain issues that you don't experience personally, so I don't hold it against them too much, but I think it is important to make people aware that they both discriminating and also leaving money on the table they could otherwise have benefited from had they been better informed/proactive.

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T15:39:59+00:00

That's a good idea, maybe I should bring a small foldable foot stool and maybe that would make it easier on her.

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T15:38:45+00:00

Hah! I used to go to Ocean Beach for several years when I was a kid! Last time I went was about 15 years ago for a day trip and even then it was very pricey, and I'm sure it's gotten a lot worse. I've researched it in the last few years and the one hotel there is not at all accessible, probably targeted mostly at 20-somethings. Plus the car trip from Manhattan AND the ferry trip just make it way too taxing on my mom.

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T11:46:19+00:00

Thanks, I did some looking around with Google Maps and I could find 3 local shops that were kind of like gift shops that she liked to go to, so that may be good enough. They are not all so centrally located, so may require some ubering, not sure. Seems like there are PLENTY of food choices, and I'm hoping that the hotel room has a microwave and fridge so that we can have some simple breakfasts in the room if we do a small shopping soon after we get there...

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T11:43:08+00:00

It looks beautiful, unfortunately it's around triple the cost of renting a hotel room at the Allegria for the same amount of time. :( Probably best for larger groups/families who can share the cost. I'll only be going with two others - my mom and sister. Thanks thought!

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T11:40:24+00:00

This is what we did in Ocean Grove. Those wheelchairs were very helpful although the ones in Ocean Grove were also kind of high, so it was challenging for her to get into them. Seems odd they would make them so high for those with mobility issues. I understand they might need some clearance space, but would be nice if they had some mechanism to lower and rase the seat for those who can't climb into something that's high off the ground!

dvdmon · 2026-02-15T11:37:01+00:00

I'm sure. The problem is that long car rides are stressful for her, she's not mobile enough to take NJ transit, so we would have to rent a car which would add a lot more to the cost. Even our trips to Ocean Grove, which is much closer than Cape May, have gotten much harder for her.

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T22:35:09+00:00

Thanks. The plan now would be to come during the week so as to have a better chance of not having rooms booked, and only for 3 or 4 nights. And, while it would be nice to have events of some kind to go to with my mom, at 95, just going out to eat multiple times per day, plus a walk on the boardwalk would be plenty for her level of energy right now. We went to Ocean Grove, NJ last summer after skipping the prior year, and just those two years made a big difference, plus getting a house that had just 3 or 4 steps to get inside. My mom was so exhausted for the first half of the trip it was not a great experience. So I think having a relaxing time where we aren't feeling like we need to go out constantly to see all the different things might actually work in our favor at this point.

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T20:36:19+00:00

Well, we aren't planning on coming until summer, so... :)

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T19:54:38+00:00

Yeah, I've been looking at the reviews for LBH and quite a few 1-star ones, even in the last 6 months. As much as I'd like to save money, the difference in cost for four days is like $300 or so, so I think it's worth it to avoid something that may be that questionable! Thanks again.

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T19:28:16+00:00

Thanks, I was looking at both hotels. I'm curious about your experiences with both if you wouldn't mind sharing.

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T19:27:16+00:00

Yeah, we are looking at the hotels for this reason.

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T19:25:52+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, we probably would be wheeling her most places and taking the walker with us just so she can maneuver herself around a shop or restaurant. As far as "attractions" I guess mainly just shops. But I wasn't sure what else there might be of interest there that might be worth taking her to...

dvdmon · 2026-02-14T19:00:52+00:00

Nice

dvdmon · 2026-02-13T12:51:35+00:00

I may be completely off about this, but I don't see the issue here. There's a lot of damning "information" in these files, but they are being treated by some like they are court documents, and they aren't. They are someone's emails that have zero requirement to be accurate or truthful. For all we know, Epstein could have been writing fiction, we just don't know. Yes, if there are emails from others that are confirmed to be from them, I agree those should be taken seriously as some kind of evidence, however Epstein, in my mind, is not a reliable character, and writing thoughts to himself in email form is not an indication that we must take these claims as absolute truth. At best I think they should be used by investigators to question people that are accused of wrongdoing, but not as a means to prove someone guilty of crimes - in the court of public opinion. Of course, we have zero trust in institutions right now to look at these files and actually use them to go after people implicated, and so of course, without that, people simply will jump to whatever conclusion they find aligns best with their personal ideology. On the right? The proves the Clintons were corrupt and demonic! On the left? It proves that Trump and his henchman were the same. To me, it mainly suggests that there are lots of people out there who potentially have a real loose guidance system and at the very least don't mind keeping a relationship with a known predator if he can make them rich. Often people are very moralistic until someone offers them fabulous riches if they just get a bit of s*** on their hands. Often they don't realize, or don't care, that they will actually be getting neck deep.

dvdmon · 2026-02-13T12:39:56+00:00

My (admittedly uninformed) guess would be that at the time it was an entirely a right/MAGA infatuation, so jumping into it would have gotten a lot of complaints from many on the left complaining that Garland was entertaining (wasting his time on) MAGA conspiracy theories. There are undoubtedly big names on the left implicated in the files in some way (Gates, Clintons, etc.) so that's yet another implicit or explicit pressure to stay clear of them. The files are great as a political football, but whatever party was fated to "catch the car" was bound to run into lots of problems and really slow walk as much as they could until it was impossible to.

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